Anybody else get their copy yet? I am working my way through it, & boy oh boy is there plenty of LOL-worthy material. Just to give you a sense of where they're at:
Brian got a "trade secrets lawyer" named Michael Elkon to write a 7-page article about what sort of decline in the Buckeyes' success, if any, we should expect as Ryan Day replaces Urban Meyer. Elkon covers 13 transitions from "Legendary" coaches to their successors, beginning with Ara Parseghian --> Dan Devine following the 1974(!) season & ending with JoePa --> Bill O'Brien at the end of 2011 (Elkon is not counting interims). Nowhere in Elkon's piece, or anywhere else in the entire 132-page preview, does the name "Lincoln Riley" appear.
Elkon opens his piece with the question "Is Ohio State in for a drop under Day, or is that just more magical thinking?" You will not be surprised to learn that he never really considers the 2nd part of that question (even though he later admits to thinking in 2012 that Brady Hoke was as good as Meyer, & again does not seem to have heard of Lincoln Riley), but rather just crunches some numbers - leaving out whichever *whole seasons* he needs to to make them work - & arrives at the amazing conclusion that yes, we are in for a drop-off that will bring us into "parity" with them.
I am happy to consider the 2nd part of Elkon's opening question, because magical thinking is rampant throughout this year's HTTV, & not just in Elkon's insistence on throwing 45 years of cherry-picked & obsolete apples, oranges, & used tires into a blender & doing some math while refusing to look at the current, real-life example in Norman of "how Ryan Day's first few years are likely to go". Consider:
- Brian Cook is trying to assert not *just* that picking up blitzes is the most important thing an RB does, but further that it's actually the ONLY thing you need an RB to do. No production necessary!
- Everybody seems excited, rather than terrified, to be starting a true freshman at safety.
- Their answer to the beating the Buckeyes gave them last fall, I shit you not, is "Don Brown holds grudges". Seriously, that's it - if you can find more I'm all ears.
I'm just now working my way through it for the first time, so I'll have more to say later probably, but I thought you all might enjoy some of the funnier bits so far.
Let me hear from you - anybody else finding good stuff?
